Music-leaf turner.



T. P. WHITE.

MUSIC LEAPTURNER.

APPLICATION FILED NOV.12, 1912.

Patented Apr. 22, 1913.

anuewto'r;

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

THOMAS F. WHITE, OF WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE- I-IALF TO OTTO FUI-IRMAN, OF WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

MUSIC-LEAF TURNER.

Application filed November 12, 1912.

To all whom 2'75 may concern Be it known that I, THOMAS F. WVHITE, a citizen of the United States, residing at WVashington, in the District of Columbia, have invented new and useful Improvements in Music-Leaf Turners, of which the following is a specification.

An object of the invention is to provide a device for turning the leaves of sheet music.

The invention embodies, among other features, a device for use on a musical instrument or music stand and which compre hends a structure whereby the leaves of a book or pamphlet of music can be readily and quickly turned either forward or backward by the operator without necessitating the use of the operators hands to an extent which would result in delaying the progress of the song or melody which the operator is playing.

In the further disclosure of the invention reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, constituting a part of this specification, in which similar characters of reference denote corresponding parts in all the views, and in which:

Figure 1 is a front elevation of the device; Fig. 2 is a fragmentary enlarged vertical sectional View taken on the line 22 in Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a fragmentary enlarged front elevation, the cover of the casing having been partially broken away to disclose the underlying structure; and Fig. 1 is a perspective view of one of the actuating men'rbers.

Referring more particularly to the views, I disclose a music supporting stand 10 having a portion thereof constituting a horizontal shelf 11 provided at its medial portion with an opening 12, with portions of the shelf forming a casing 13 for the opening normally closed by a cover 14, the said cover being L-shaped and formed of a single piece of material to constitute a portion of the front and top faces of the shelf 11, as shown.

A plurality of fingers 15 are journaled in the bottom 16 of the casing 13 and in the upper face 17 of the cover let, the lower ends of the said fingers being spirally twisted and arranged within the casing 13, as shown, with the said fingers projecting upwardly and laterally to engage the pages of a book or pamphlet reposing upon the shelf 11. A

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 22, 1913.

Serial No. 730,938.

plurality of notches 18 are formed in the bottom 16 of the casing 13 and slidable in the said notches are actuating members 19, the said actuating members each consisting of an integral S-shaped .body 20 including a shank 21 having a fork-like plate 22 projecting laterally from the upper end thereof and a plate forming a handle 23 projecting laterally from the lower end thereof, the plate 22 being arranged to project forwardly from the shank 21 and the handle 23 being arranged to project rearwardly therefrom so that when the actuating members 19 are arranged upon the casing 13 to slide in the notches 18 in the bottom of the casing, the plates 22 of the actuating members will lie within the casing and the handles 23 thereof will extend exteriorly of the casing, the mentioned plates 22 being made fork-like in order to provide slots 24 in which are received the spiral or twisted portions of the fingers 15, eXpansible helical springs 25 being arranged in the casing 13 and encircling the spiral or twisted portions of the fingers 15, with the upper ends of the springs abutting against the under sides of the fork-like plates 22 to normally retain the actuating members 19 in uppermost position, notched locking members 26 being mounted to swing on the cover 14: of the casing 13 and adapted for locking the actuating members 19 in lowered position and against the action of the expansible helical springs 25 in the casing 13.

In the use of the device described, a book of music is placed upon the stand 10 and supported on the shelf '11 thereof, with the upper lateral portions of the fingers 15 arranged between the pages of music of the book. Now when the operator reaches the last note on one side of a page of the book, the operator quickly presses downwardly on the handle 23 of the first actuating member 19, thus moving the actuating member downwardly into the casing so that the fork-like plate thereof will operate over the twisted or spiral portion of the first finger 15 and rotate the same to turn the sheet of music of the book and expose the other side thereof, it being readily seen that when the first actuating member 19 is moved downwardly in the manner mentioned, the same will be operated against the eXpansible action of the spring engaging the same and in order to retain the actuating member 19. in lowered position, the first locking member 26 is provided,,the said locking member being adapted to normally swing gravitationally so that the handle 28 of the first actuating member 19 will be received in the notch of the first locking member to secure the same in lowered and locked position. The same procedure is followed when it is desired to turn another page of music of the book, the second finger 15 being then employed and operated in the same manner, through the medium of the second actuating member 19. Now it will be seen that the actuating members 19 are both held in lowered position by the locking members 26, and, if it is desired to turn the pages of the book back, the locking members 26 are grasped and disengaged from the actuating members, thus releasing the same and permitting the expansible helical springs to operate and force the fork-like plates of the actuating members upwardly along the twisted or spiral portions of the lower ends of the fingers 15, thus rotating the fingers relatively to the casing 13 and returning the fingers to normal position, thus returning the sheets or pages of the book which were formerly turned in the opposite direction by the same fingers.

It will be readily understood that any number of fingers can be employed in connection with the device described, a similar number of actuating members being also employed, with one actuating member provided for each finger.

Having thus described my invention, 1 claim:

1. In a music leaf turner, the combination with a supporting stand, of a shelf therefor provided with an opening, a cover for the said opening and forming a casing therefor, fingers journaled in the bottom of the said shelf and in the said cover and having spiral portions thereof arranged within the said casing, actuating members, each consist-ing of a single piece of material including a shank, a fork-like forwardly extending plate, and a rearwardly extending handle, the said actuating members being mounted to slide in the said casing, with the forklike plates thereof projecting into the casing engaging the spiral portions of the said fingers, the handles of the said actuating members projecting exteriorly of the casing in order to actuate the members, expansible helical springs in the said casing and engaging the fork-like plates of the actuating members to normally retain the actuating members in uppermost position in the casing, and locking members mounted to swing on the said casing and engage the said actuating members to retain the same in lowered position and hold the actuating members against the expansible action of the springs engaging the same.

2. In a music leaf turner, the combination with a supporting stand, of a shelf therefor provided with an opening, a cover for the opening and forming a casing therefor, fingers journaled in the said casing with the lower portions of the fingers twisted in a spiral form, spring-engaged actuating members slidable on the said casing and projecting therein to engage the twisted portions of the fingers and impart rotation thereto, and locking members mounted to swing on the said cover and movable gravitationally to engage the said actuating members and secure the same in lowered position on the casing when the said actuating members are moved downwardly to extend into notches in the said locking members.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

THOMAS F. VHITE.

Witnesses:

Josnri-r JAMES CRoNLEY, RALPH HANNA.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patent! Washington, I). G. 

